Finding Cloud Nine
by ArtemisJPotter
Summary: An alternate ending to Allegiant. More information inside. WARNING: SPOILERS FROM THE NOVEL
1. Tris

The death serum smells like smoke and spice, and my lungs reject it with the first breath I take. I cough and splutter, and I am swallowed by darkness.

But I force myself to keep going. I have to do this. I have to stop the Bureau, before they destroy everything I know and love.

I push myself further and further, until, finally, I see the doors. I'm almost there. I'm going to make it.

But I am not alone.

"Don't move," David says, raising his gun at me. "Hello, Tris."

I freeze. I should have seem this; I should have known someone was coming.

"How did you inoculate yourself?" David demands, still holding the firearm towards me.

I blink at him, still dazed. "I didn't," I admit.

"Don't be stupid," David snaps. "You can't survive the death serum without an inoculation, and I'm the only person in the compound who posses that substance."

I just stare at him, not sure what to say. I didn't inoculate myself. The fact that I'm still standing upright is impossible. There's nothing more to add.

"I suppose it no longer matters," David continues. "We're here now."

"What are you doing here?" I mumble. My limbs feel weak, like liquid. The death serum may not be killing me, but it is making me numb.

"I knew something was going on," David explains. "You've been running around with genetically damaged people all week, Tris, did you think I wouldn't notice?" He shakes his head. "Your friend Cara was caught trying to manipulate the lights, but she very wisely knocked herself out before she could tell us anything. So I came here, just in case. I'm sad to say I'm not surprised to see you."

"You came here alone?" I ask. "Not very smart, are you?" I have to keep him talking, at least long enough to see if I can formulate a backup plan.

David's eyes squint a little. "Well, you see, I have death serum resistance and a weapon, and you have no way to fight me. There's no way you can steal four virus devices while I have you at gunpoint. I'm afraid you've come all the way for no reason, and it will be at the expense of your life. The death serum may not have killed you, but I am going to. I'm sure you understand-officially we don't allow capital punishment, but I can't have you surviving this."

He thinks I'm here to steal the weapons that will reset the experiments, not deploy one of them. Of course he doesn't.

I shake my head. "I didn't come here to steal anything, David." I twist and lunge towards the device. The gun goes off, but thankfully my reflexives kick in and I miss it by a few inches.

I can still hear Caleb repeating the code for Matthew in my head. With a quaking hand I type in the numbers on the keypad.

The gun goes off again, nearly scarping my arm. For a moment I'm afraid he'll finally get me, and everything I'm doing is in vain.  
I slam my hand into the keypad. A light turns on behind a green button.

From the corner of my eye, I see David slump into his chair. I sigh of relief.

I did it. It's all over. It's finally over.


	2. Tobias

I start back towards the city, feeling relieved with everything I've just accomplished. I managed to get Evelyn to make a peace treaty with the factionless and Allegiant. But, more importantly, I got my mother back. I never thought that would happen, not in all of the years of my life.

It feels so odd that I'm walking alongside a mother who used to be a woman I almost distrusted as much as my father. With Marcus, I was more afraid of his temper, but with Evelyn, I was afraid with how manipulate she was and how she could twist her words.

What's more shocking, though, is the fact that I'm with Peter and don't feel like punching him in the face. I thought that, whenever I'd at him after he had taken the memory-erasing serum, I'd still see the same man who shoved a butter knife into Edward's eye, the man who tried to kill my girlfriend, and a man who was the embodiment of evil. But now, all I see is an innocent, confused-looking boy.

The journey home seems to take forever, and just when I think it will never end we soon make it home. On the outside everything looks the same, but as soon as I get to the city I know things are much different than I remember.

People are scattered around the place, looking lost and confused. Everybody seems to be panicked but doesn't move, almost as if they're trying to process what has just happened.

Christina, Peter and I push through the crowd of people and look around. When Caleb had been sent in to erase the memories of everyone in the Bureau, we hadn't thought of what to do during the aftermath. What are we supposed to say to these people? How are we supposed to explain why they can't remember anything about themselves?

My eyes suddenly land on Tris, who is also walking among the crowd of people. Her eyes look strained and her body looks tired, but I'm not sure why. Caleb's walking beside her, looking as if he's also trying to decide what to do with all of the people we've mind wiped.

I make my way towards Tris, and pull her into an embrace. We stand there for a moment until Tris finally lets go. Seeing her closer up now, I can tell how she looks even weaker than when I first glanced at her. I don't know why, but now might not be the best time to ask those questions.

"How did it go?" Tris asks me, and I immediately know she's talking about my negotiations with Evelyn, the factionless and the Allegiant.

"Surprisingly well," I tell Tris honestly. "I managed to get Evelyn to agree to a peace treaty between the factonless and the Allegiant."

"She listened to you?" Tris looks surprised, as if that had been the last answer she had expected to hear. I'm not too shocked by her response; the Evelyn she met was the cruel, power-hungry woman who had ruled a dictatorship over her old factions. She was also a woman who did not approve of my girlfriend/

But that woman is gone now.

I smile at Tris. "My family isn't completely broken," I tell her. "I still have my mother. And you." I place a hand on her face, and I can see Tris trying to hide the blush that's making its way to her face.

"So," I say, turning around to face Caleb, "I guess the plan worked?"

Caleb bites his lip for a minute before answering. "I didn't do it," he finally says. He gestures towards Tris. "She did it. I tried to stop her," he begins hurriedly, "but she had me at gunpoint and-"

But I'm not paying attention to Caleb anymore. All I can do is imagine Tris, making her way towards the death serum, nearly walking into the face of death itself. My body freezes, but I somehow manage to form words.

"What were you thinking?" I demand, turning on Tris. "I thought we agreed that-"

"I couldn't let him die," Tris interrupts. She turns to Caleb, giving him a solemn look. "He wanted to sacrifice himself because he felt like death would erase all the guilt that' he's felt. I couldn't let him do that." She looks up at me, as if begging me to understand. "You shouldn't have to die just so you don't have to live with yourself and all of the horrible things you have done. I would know, Tobias, because I tried to do it before."

I don't know what to say. I remember how, back when Jeanine had the Dauntless under her control and was trying to destroy all of the Divergent, Tris had recklessly thrown herself in the midst of danger, and even tried to get herself killed so she could forget about how she had ended Will's life. Now I can see why Tris had taken Caleb's place instead. Sacrifice isn't bent on washing away your guilt-it has to be meaningful. Just like Tris' parent's death.

I understand why Tris did what she did. But that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.

I look sternly into Tris' eyes. "Don't you ever scare me like that again," I say in a low voice. "You should have at least told me what you were going to do." I pause, easing up on my tone. "I can't afford to lose you, Tris. You mean everything to me."

Tris smiles at me and puts her hand into mine. "I know," she whispers. "You mean everything to me, too." Then she lets out a small laugh. "You should really trust me more often when I go into life-threatening situations. Considering that I've been in more than one in a short period of time, I thought you would have known that I don't die that easily."

In spite of myself, I smile.

Tris turns her attention back to the people. "Well, we stopped these people from destroying everyone in Chicago," she begins slowly. "But now they don't remember anything. Now she turns to me. "What are we going to do?"

I frown. "I don't know," is all I can say.

"We could tell them the truth," Tris suggests suddenly. "At least a part of it."

I give her an incredulous look. "I don't think that will run over well with them," I say.

"We could just tell them about erasing their minds," Tris begins, "but we could make up some sort of excuse as to why we did it. That it was for their safety." She looks over at the people again. "I still can't believe this, that the people we've fought against remember nothing about us."

"Isn't it better that way?" I ask. After all, it was her plan to erase their memories in the first place.

Tris sighs. "I know," she says. "But it almost feels as if nothing really happened." She shakes her head. "Ever since I found out about Edith Prior, ever since I came here and left Chicago, I feel like I know nothing." She looks at me desperately. "Everything that I learned-was it all just a lie? Do I really know anything?"

I looked into her eyes deeply. "Not everything," I say. "The people in your life-your friends, your family-they all cared about you." I hold her face into my hands again. "And so do I. I love you, Tris."

Tris just smiles. "I know," she whispers. "I love you, too." And then she pulls me in and kisses me.

And for a moment, we forget that we're even here, in the midst of a ruined society, a society that doesn't even remember its own corruption. All I can think about is holding Tris in my arms, and how I never want to let go.


	3. Epilogue

It's been two years since the fateful event of me erasing the minds of all of the people in the Bureau, two years since I left Chicago, two years since so much has happened. My life and Tobias' life have changed so much, for better or for worse, and sometimes it's still hard to adjust.

Sometimes we and I miss the life we lived in Chicago, the way we had set up the Factions, the way my life was had been planned out. Somehow, knowing how things are supposed toe be run and makes you feel more secure.

I miss my friends, too, as does Tobias. In spite of the time that has past by, he still hasn't fully forgiven herself for indadvertedly contributing to the death of Uriah. I still have some painful memories of having to shoot Will, whenever he was under the Dauntless stimulation.

And then there are our friends' death, ones that did not involve our doing, but could have been prevented if only we had seen it coming.

But then there are also times when we don't miss Chicago. I don't miss having to fit into one Faction, to have to set myself up into one particular belief. I don't miss having to hide my Divergence.

And I really don't miss having our lives on the line just because we're different.

Life in the Bureau is nice and peaceful now. Two years ago, I managed to convince the people that their memories had been erased due to a freak accident, and they managed to believe it. Now they live their lives, some as scientists, pursuing their hobbies, and trying to live in harmony with those around them.

We've all also accepted that there are no such things as genetically-damaged people, or genetically-pure people. We're all just people, and some of us are different than others. But that doesn't mean we deserve special treatment or need to be ostracized. We should be treated with respect, just like every other human being.

My relationship with Tobias has grown stronger as well. Gone are the days where we keep secrets from each other or lie in fear of the other's response. Even though we still argue and are not always on page with each other, we try our best to work things out. We love each other, and our love is stronger than any argument we've ever gotten into.

At the moment I'm sitting near a small lake, gazing at it with distant eyes. At the corner of my eye, I can see Tobias step forward towards me. After a few steps he just stands there, staring at the lake, too, as if he can see what's beyond it.

We stay silent for a few moments until Tobias finally speaks.

"So," he begins, "how are you doing?"

I don't say anything for a moment, and Tobias just stands there, waiting patiently for my response. We know that we still had our moments when we lament over the ones we've lost. Christina still cries about Will from time to time; Tobias talks about Uriah on occasion; I still remember my parents, Al, Marlene and everyone else that died. It's gotten better over the years, but that doesn't mean that we still don't miss them. We do. They'll always have a place in our hearts.

Finally I answer the question Tobias has asked me. "Okay, I guess," I say honestly. "Better than I have been in the past."

Tobias nods and turns his attention on me. "Sometimes I think about all we've experienced in the past two years," he begins. "So many revelations were revealed, some that scared me-like the genetic damage I supposedly had. So many people died, sometimes at the hands of us, sometimes not." A more confident gleam suddenly falls into his eyes. "But we've also accomplished so much. We discovered the truth, about the factions. We fought the Bureau against the genetically-damaged and genetically-pure war. And we're overcoming our own problems as well."

At this Tobias leans over and squeezes my hand into his, the gesture feeling romantic. These are the moments we remember, when we're alone, sitting by the lake or inside or wherever, talking things out with each other. We've found that, over the years, honesty really is the best policy. Even if it doesn't always seem easy at first.

I nod at Tobias' response. "I know," I agree. "I hate all that we had to go through to get to here, but I'm also glad that we made it. We can actually spend an afternoon together without worrying about someone planning a diabolical to try and kill us."

Tobias laughs at this, lightning up the mood with my somewhat morbid joke. "That is true," he says. He then pauses, staring solemnly into my eyes. "I don't want to change the subject, if you don't want me to, but I came out here to ask you something."

"Okay," I say, turning my full attention on Tobias. "What is it?"

Tobias suddenly lets go of my hands and drops to one knee. He pulls out a small, black case from his pocket and holds it out me to see. I gasp as I watch Tobias open the case, revealing a silverly ring.

"I've been in love with you since the day I met you," Tobias begins confidently. "I didn't know it at first, but it was there. It's always been there." He pauses for a second before going on. "I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?"

My smile is wide, and when I stand up I touch a hand lightly on the ring's case. Then I answer. "Yes, Tobias. Of course I'll marry you."

Tobias' smile is just as wide as mine. Carefully he picks up the ring and slips it onto my finger. It fits perfectly, almost as if it was meant for me and no one else.

Getting up from the ground, Tobias embraces me and then we start to kiss. We don't know how long we're there-maybe two minutes, two hours-but it doesn't matter. Whenever our lips meet, we lose sight of everything around us. We forget about Chicago; we forget about the factions. We forget about warfare, death, everything that would seem so relevant to everyone else.

Because we are one.


End file.
